Abstract
The Minoan peak sanctuaries call for systematic comparative research as an island-bound phenomenon whose significance to the (pre)history of medicine far transcends the Cretan context: they yield clay anatomical offerings attesting to the earliest known healing cult in the Aegean. The peak sanctuary of Petsophas produced figurines of weasels, which are usually interpreted as pests, ignoring their association with votives that express concerns about childbirth, traditionally the first single cause of death for women. The paper draws from primary sources to examine the weasel’s puzzling bond with birth and midwives, concluding that it stems from the animal’s pharmacological role in ancient obstetrics. This novel interpretation then steers the analysis of archaeological evidence for rituals involving mustelids beyond and within Bronze Age Crete, revealing the existence of a midwifery koine across the Near East and the Mediterranean; a net of interconnections relevant to female therapeutics which brings to light a package of animals and plants bespeaking of a Minoan healing tradition likely linked to the cult of the midwife goddess Eileithyia. Challenging mainstream accounts of the beginnings of Western medicine as a male accomplishment, this overlooked midwifery tradition characterises Minoan Crete as a unique crucible of healing knowledge, ideas, and practices.
Highlights
The conflicting conjunction of a narrow pelvis—derived from bipedal adaptation—and increased brain size resulted in difficult parturition, which is at the origins of assisted birth; namely, obligate midwifery, a therapeutic response to lessen the impact of maternal and perinatal mortality that may have been in place long before the advent of anatomically modern humans (Trevathan 1987; Rosenberg and Trevathan 2001; DeSilva 2010)
The anatomical votives dedicated to Eileithyia on Paros in historical times find close parallels among the gynaecological offerings from the Minoan peak sanctuary of Petsophas, themselves pointing to her cult
What is significant here is that a weasel-based drug deemed an effective oxytocic was employed in ancient Mediterranean obstetrics, in all likelihood explaining why the animal was sacred to Eileithyia and cognate goddesses, its apotropaic use in pregnancy-delivery, and its remarkable lexicon
Summary
The conflicting conjunction of a narrow pelvis—derived from bipedal adaptation—and increased brain size resulted in difficult parturition, which is at the origins of assisted birth; namely, obligate midwifery, a therapeutic response to lessen the impact of maternal and perinatal mortality that may have been in place long before the advent of anatomically modern humans (Trevathan 1987; Rosenberg and Trevathan 2001; DeSilva 2010). The paper argues that their pervasive connection rests on the weasel’s pharmacological use in obstetrics, which explains the animal’s role as an attribute of the Cretan Eileithyia and other divine midwives Applying this interpretation to the diachronic analysis of rituals involving mustelids beyond Bronze Age Crete leads to the identification of an animal package with a long history in midwifery cult and practice. This package is associated in the Minoan votive record with depictions of plants later recorded as main gynaecological drugs in the Hippocratic texts, bespeaking of women’s neglected contribution to the foundations of Western medicine. As the paper illustrates the potential of integrative approaches to the study of peak sanctuary materials, it showcases Minoan Crete as an epistemic laboratory of the greatest significance to the (pre)history of medicine
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